School Dance

Tonight was our school's Valentine's dance.

I've gotta tell you, the job I have is awesome, and I can sum it up in one short anecdote (which is all I can muster after a thirteen-hour day):

About halfway through the dance, as some current pop confection by Britney Aguilera-Simpson was fading off the DJ's speakers, I heard a sound that resonated through my spirit, down to a part of me that was forged in, oh, 1984 or so. It sounded like this:
(horns) DAAAAAH DAAAAAAAAAH, DAH DAAAH DAAAH DAHHHH
(bass line) de-dup de-dup de-dup dup, de-de-dup de-dup de-dup dup, de-de-dup de-dup de=dup dup...

And the voice of the Gloved One, before all (or at least most) of the plastic surgery, before his weird fixations on Diana Ross and Elizabeth Taylor and his chimp Bubbles and the bones of John Merrick, before Neverland Ranch, before (assumedly) all these horrific child molestation charges...Michael Jackson, when he was still Michael Jackson, and not Wacko Jacko, singing

It's close to midnight, and something evil's lurking in the dark...

And children who were mere babies when the first child molestation case came up, back in 1993, rushed to the dance floor, to dance the dance of the zombies from the "Thriller" video. Not all of them got it, but there were a few out there who, but for the lack of faux rotting flesh and funeral garb, looked just like those dancers in that most impressive of video music achievements. It was truly a sight to behold, and a bit sad, really, thinking of the musical genius who created that work and how far he's fallen.


Y'know, thinking of it, maybe "Bad" (the "Thriller" follow-up, natch) shoulda been titled "The Last One Before Michael Goes Totally Freakin' Nuts."